Virginia men, FSU women hold team scoring leads heading into final session

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (theACC.com) – Due to the threat of heavy rain later on Saturday, the final and deciding session of the three-day ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will begin with field events at 10 a.m. at Virginia’s Lannigan Field – 3 ½ hours earlier than originally scheduled. Running events will now begin at 12:05 p.m.

Finals are set in five total men’s and women’s field events, and 20 running event finals are on the docket. The competition is now set to conclude with the running of the women’s 4x400 relay at 2:40 p.m., followed by the men’s 4x400 at 2:50.

The revised schedule of events: https://theacc.co/otf19sched
 
The host Virginia men and Florida State women lead the team scoring heading into Saturday’s finale.

Led by thrower Hilmar Jonsson, who became the first student-athlete to capture the gold medal in the hammer throw four consecutive seasons, the host Virginia men rode a strong showing in Friday’s field events to amass 77 team points. Virginia Tech is next with 60, followed by Florida State 34.5, Duke 29, Pitt 26 and Louisville 25.

Florida State’s women lead with 39 points, followed by Louisville at 37 and Virginia and Notre Dame at 34 apiece in a tight top four. Virginia Tech holds fifth place with 28 points.

Other Friday highlights included finals in six field events, as well as the men’s and women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Friday also saw winners crowned in the men’s and women’s multis, as well as preliminaries in a combined eight men’s and women’s running events.

Despite the change in the schedule, ACC Network Extra will continue its live streaming as planned with three hours of coverage of Saturday’s finals.  Sean Kenney returns to handle play-by-play, while former U.S. Olympic standout Dan O’Brien will serve as analyst for the broadcast, which now begins at noon. The pair will be joined by distance race analyst David Mitchell and Melanie Newman as sideline reporter.
 
A link to Saturday’s livestream:  http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3507648/acc-mens-and-womens-track--field-championship
 
Make sure to follow @ACCTrackField on Twitter throughout the day during Saturday's final session for continual updates.

A capsule look at Friday's action:

MEN’S 3K STEEPLECHASE
Virginia Tech sophomore Fitsum Seyoum kicked into high gear on the final lap and raced to a gold medal in the men’s steeplechase with a personal best time of 8:44.43. He placed ahead of Louisville junior Alex Kosgei, who also registered his career-best effort of 8:46.72. Duke sophomore Alex Miley took the bronze medal at 8:51.71.
 
WOMEN’S 3K STEEPLECHASE
Paige Stoner entered this year’s ACC Championship as the ACC Women’s Track Performer of the Week and ranked among the top 10 nationally in three running events. The Syracuse senior more than lived up to her billing by successfully defending her women’s 3k steeplechase title in convincing fashion. Stoner clocked in at 9:51.24, just short of her meet record of 9:50.24 set last season. Stoners sophomore teammate Laura Dickinson took the silver medal in 10:10.19, followed by Wake Forest freshman Elise Wright at 10:23.91.
 
MEN’S SHOT PUT
Homefield favorite Pobo Efekoro of Virginia delivered a winning throw of 19.32 meters (63-4.75) on his fifth try to take home the gold medal and outdistance a pair of Virginia Tech competitors. Hokie sophomore Isaiah Rogers placed second at 18.53m, and freshman Tyson Jones followed at 18.28m. The gold medal was the first for the senior Efekoro, but fourth in five years for the Cavaliers. Former national champion Filip Mihaljevic placed first three consecutive years from 2015-17.
 
MEN’S POLE VAULT
Deakin Volz continued a long tradition of Virginia Tech success in the pole vault, taking the gold medal with a Lannigan facility record of 5.62 meters. It marked the 10th time the Hokies have claimed first place in the men’s pole vault at the ACC Championships in their 15 seasons as a conference member. Georgia Tech freshman Cole Shea took the silver medal with a personal best of 5.07m, winning on progressions over bronze medalist Sam Young of Virginia.
 
MEN’S HAMMER
Virginia senior Hilmar Jonsson’s successfully nailed down his fourth ACC men’s hammer throw gold medal with a distance of 72.84 meters. Jonsson, who entered the ACC Championships ranked second nationally, placed ahead Miami junior Kevin Arreaga (69.13m) and Notre Dame junior Logan Kusky (a personal best 66.30). The medalists – Jonsson, Arreaga and Kusky – placed in the exact same order as in last season’s ACC Championship at Miami.
 
MEN’S HIGH JUMP
In an event filled with personal bests, Virginia junior Brenton Foster continued the home team’s successful run of field events with a gold medal high jump of 2.23 meters. Foster, who narrowly missed a facility record, edged Pitt’s Greg Lauray (2.20m) and Clemson’s Anthony Hamilton and Louisville’s Luke Nichols (2.11m each).

WOMEN’S SHOT PUT
Podium finishes and gold medals have become commonplace for NC State senior Lauren Evans this season, and she followed suit on Friday with a personal best throw of 16.96 meters that placed her atop the standings. Evans outdistanced Louisville junior Rashida Harris (a personal best 16.54m) and Virginia junior Brittany Jones (a season best 16.00m).

WOMEN’S POLE VAULT
Virginia senior Bridget Guy held on the ACC women’s pole vault gold medal she claimed last season, leading Friday’s field with a distance of 4.32m. Guy placed ahead of silver medalist Gabriela Leon (4.22m), and Duke senior Nati Shepard, who checked in at 4.12m took the bronze medals on progressions over Louisville’s Morgan Zacharias.
 
MEN’S DECATHLON
Virginia Tech sophomore Jaelyn Demory finished strong in the 1,500 meters  with a second-place finish to nail down the gold medal in the decathlon with 6,982 total points. Florida State’s David Lott placed second in the overall scoring at 6,682, and the Hokies’ Sean Murphy followed with 6,588.
- Pitt sophomore Cabe Wiggins won the decathlon 1,500 with a time of 4:49.22, followed by Demory at 4:51.87.
- Miami junior Andres Christodoulou opened Friday’s session with a first-place run of 14.82 in the 110m decathlon hurdles. Lott (14.91) and Demory (15.01) rounded out the top three.
- FSU’s Lott took the discus throw with a toss of 38.22m (125-5), which bettered the nearest competitor by nearly 11 feet. Seminole teammate Hunter Napier (34.97m) placed second, followed by Virginia Tech’s Demory (34.95m).
- The event’s pole vault competition stretched well into the afternoon before Virginia Tech’s Demory failed to clear the bar at 5.00 meters. Demory had more than helped himself by that point, however, as the only competitor to clear at 4,60, 4.70, 4.80 and 4.90. He finished the competition in first place by 188 points.
- Pitt’s Wiggins threw 53.23 meters on his final attempt to win the decathlon javelin. He placed just ahead of Miami’s Christodoulou (53.10) and Virginia Tech’s Murphy (53.06).
Demory is the first student-athlete from Virginia Tech to take the gold medal in the ACC men’s decathlon.
 
WOMEN’S HEPTATHLON
The outcome hung into the balance until the final event, but Miami’s Michelle Atherley repeated as heptathlon champion.
Atherley regained first place in the overall scoring with a runner-up finish in the 800 meters to place first with 5,855 points. She moved past Duke sophomore Erin Marsh, who led entering the final event and placed second a school record 5,806 points. NC State freshman Timara Chapman took the bronze with 5,412.
- Louisville’s Holly Hankenson won the 800 with a time of 2:15.94, .02 seconds ahead of Atherley.
- Duke’s Marsh took over the overall scoring lead for the first time in the competition with a winning throw of 39.41 meters. The first-place showing, coupled with a seventh-place showing by Atherley, left Marsh with 4,980 points to Atherely’s 4,976 with only the 800m run remaining.
- Atherley, who built a 145-point lead during Thursday’s four opening heptathlon events, picked up where she left off by placing first in the long jump to lead off Friday’s competition. Atherley took the long jump with a distance of 6.06 meters on her first attempt. Chapman followed at 5.98m, and Marsh placed third at 5.91m.